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Why Apple Security Is Important To All In The United States of Trump

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

The political winds are changing directions and so are the fortunes of those who prefer personal privacy and security, regardless of your leanings left or right. If we’re not under assault by our own government– and I think we are– then we’re under assault from forces elsewhere; some in the playful guise of free email, free maps app, and internet search results; and others by nefarious forces of evil from crooks to foreign governments.

For about $50, you can get a smartphone with a high-definition display, fast data service and, according to security contractors, a secret feature: a backdoor that sends all your text messages to China every 72 hours.

Whoa. How many smartphones and other devices are affected? More than 700-million. Fortunately, most of these were devices used in China, but the software has spread elsewhere and remains but another example of how people worldwide are being tracked; legally and illegally, by government agencies, crooks and criminals, as well as advertisers.

That brings me to Apple and the expected changes to U.S. government policy toward’s personal privacy and security. Will a Trump administration land firmly on the side of citizens? Or, will such freedoms be curtailed.

My fear is that what freedoms we take for granted are now being targeted for change, and not a change that will benefit those of us who do not want government interference of legal activities; what we do, where we do it, who we do it with, what we say, who we talk to, who we communicate with.

What will be Apple’s response to impending change? More encryption? Legal recourse? Some may see government intrusion this way.

If you have nothing to hide, then why worry about government efforts to find and extract criminal elements from society?

How would you feel about a government agent checking through your closet, desk, or personal belongings while you were asleep (or even while you’re awake); but even if you have nothing to hide? You wouldn’t appreciate a criminal doing the same thing, right? Or, an advertiser rummaging through your personal browsing history or email messages to find information to create better way to sell you something, right?

Yet, these actions take place every day and the government does little, if anything, to thwart the process.

Apple does.

The iPhone maker gives us tools that encrypt communication, encrypt our files, and do both in such a way that even the government– let alone criminals, foreign governments, and nefarious advertisers like Google and Amazon– cannot obtain that information with ease.

That’s the way it should be, and that’s why the security options we receive from Apple’s products and services should be even more secure as we enter the United States of Trump. I’ve joined a growing number of websites which refuse to track our readers. No Google Analytics. No Google AdSense ads. In fact, all our ads do not track and all are relevant to Apple device users. Why? We respect your right to privacy and we petition Apple to remain on the side of personal privacy and security regardless of who leads the country.

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